Heteroprofessionalism in the Academy: The Surveillance and Regulation of Queer Faculty in Higher Education

Davies, Adam W. J.; Neustifter, Ruth

doi:10.1080/00918369.2021.2013036

Cited by 15 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 67 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This is heteronormativity in action [ 10 ]. Drawing on Mizzi’s notion of “heteroprofessionalism,” [ 41 ] Davies and Neustifter suggest notions of ‘professionalism’ are leveraged through accreditation and discourses of standards, assessment, accountability and appropriateness to regulate and discipline queer professionals’ embodiments of sexual and gender identities [ 42 ]. Heteroprofessionalism in the health professions silences and erases diversity in the name of conformity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors influencing LGBTQ+ disclosure decision-making by Canadian health professionals: A qualitative study

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Disclosure of LGBTQ+ identities at work may reap benefits, but may also exacerbate harms. Faced with ambiguous outcomes, people engage in complex concealment/disclosure decision-making. For health professionals, in contexts of pervasive heteronormativity where disclosure to patients/clients is deemed to violate professional boundaries, stakes are high. This qualitative study with 13 LGBTQ+ health professionals across Canada used semi-structured interviews to explore factors affecting disclosure decision-making, particularly attending to power structures at multiple levels. Most participants engaged in constant risk-benefit assessment, disclosing strategically to colleagues, rarely to clients/patients. At the individual level they were affected by degree of LGBTQ+ visibility. At the institutional level they were affected by the culture of particular professional fields and practice settings, including type of care and type of patients/clients, as well as colleague interactions. Professional power–held by them, and held by others over them–directly affected disclosures. Finally, intersections of queer identities with other privileged or marginalized identities complicated disclosures. Power relations in the health professions shape LGBTQ+ identity disclosures in complex ways, with unpredictable outcomes. Concepts of professionalism are infused with heteronormativity, serving to regulate the gender and sexual identity expression of queer professionals. Disrupting heteronormativity is essential to forge more open professional cultures.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors influencing LGBTQ+ disclosure decision-making by Canadian health professionals: A qualitative study

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…At the same time, the circulation of narrow discursive constructions of queerness means that LGBTQ+ health professionals who do disclose, or who are unable to conceal their sexual/gender identities, may face insistence that they engage in command performances of queerness that fit viewers' perceptions of the "right kind of queer." The flip side of LGBTQ+ invisibility is hypervisibility, simultaneously casting the person as deviant, other, and reducing them to always/only ever their LGBTQ+ subjectivity (Einarsdóttir et al, 2016;Calvard et al, 2020;Davies and Neustifter, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within discourses of “professionalism,” some ways of being and doing, some subjectivities and some bodies are deemed acceptable and appropriate while others are disavowed. It has been argued that professionalism is structured by a politics of respectability, which demands that members of socially marginalized groups regulate their bodies and self-presentations to adhere to normative standards, if they want acceptance and the privileges of membership (Davies and Neustifter, 2021 ; Beagan et al, 2022 ). LGBTQ+ embodiments have the potential to disrupt respectability, rendering them incommensurable with professionalism (Davies and Neustifter, 2021 ).…”

Section: Heteronormativity and Microaggressions In The Professionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been argued that professionalism is structured by a politics of respectability, which demands that members of socially marginalized groups regulate their bodies and self-presentations to adhere to normative standards, if they want acceptance and the privileges of membership (Davies and Neustifter, 2021 ; Beagan et al, 2022 ). LGBTQ+ embodiments have the potential to disrupt respectability, rendering them incommensurable with professionalism (Davies and Neustifter, 2021 ). LGBTQ+ workers, then, are expected to manage and control those aspects of their identities that are controversial, disruptive, those that “do not conform to dominant norms for professionalized self-presentation” (Davies and Neustifter, 2021 , p. 6).…”

Section: Heteronormativity and Microaggressions In The Professionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…LGBTQ+ embodiments have the potential to disrupt respectability, rendering them incommensurable with professionalism (Davies and Neustifter, 2021 ). LGBTQ+ workers, then, are expected to manage and control those aspects of their identities that are controversial, disruptive, those that “do not conform to dominant norms for professionalized self-presentation” (Davies and Neustifter, 2021 , p. 6). Mizzi coined the term “heteroprofessionalism” to capture this “demand for a standardized professional identity void of same-sex desire” which in turn relegates LGBTQ+ identity to a “silenced aspect of the self” (Mizzi, 2013 , p. 1,620–21).…”

Section: Heteronormativity and Microaggressions In The Professionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

“Ah, it's best not to mention that here:” Experiences of LGBTQ+ health professionals in (heteronormative) workplaces in Canada

Bizzeth

Beagan

2023

Front. Sociol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

IntroductionDespite human rights protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people, LGBTQ+ professionals may continue to experience discrimination working in heteronormative systems and spaces.MethodsIn this qualitative study 13 health professionals (nurses, occupational therapists, and physicians) from across Canada participated in in-depth qualitative interviews to explore their experiences with work-related microaggressions and heteronormativity.ResultsHeterosexist microaggressions from both patients/clients and colleagues were the norm, perpetuating and bolstered by heteronormative workplace and professional cultures. In turn, LGBTQ+ professionals navigated disclosure-decision-making, in power-laden contexts where all options carried potential negative consequences.DiscussionDrawing on the notion of “heteroprofessionalism,” we argue that the concept of professional carries encoded within it demands that the occupant of that category be—or present as—heterosexual, an unmarked status that can be readily desexualized. Acknowledging sex and sexuality disrupts “professionalism.” We argue that such disruption, indeed dissention, is necessary to open (hetero)professional spaces to LGBTQ+ workers.

show abstract

A union's and university's responses to violence against a woman professor: Neoliberal restructuring, hypermasculinity, male privilege and hegemonic inequality

Majerski

2024

Review of Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although Eastern Canadian liberal arts universities are portrayed as progressive work environments that cultivate inclusivity and diversity, the corporatisation of these public spaces has transformed them from institutions that once encouraged pluralism and acceptance among all social groups to spaces that unevenly distribute privileges among faculty and students based on ascribed characteristics, social class, and adherence to cisnormative and heteronormative expectations. Under neoliberal reforms, universities and unions adopt their own policies and procedures that legitimate institutional power abuse over marginalised women Contract Limited Term (CLT) assistant professors. Using material evidence from complaints filed with a province's Human Rights Commission and Labour Board, this critical autoethnographic case study explores the institutionalised responses to a disenfranchised woman CLT's discrimination and harassment by a student, departmental chair, faculty and university staff. A theory of genocidal mobbing is developed to conceptualise the organisational processes and practices that maintain the status quo of white heteropatriarchy and disentitle women CLTs to safety, equality and fair representation by their unions. Genocidal mobbing is efficient, because misogynistic administrators only require weaponising one disgruntled student, and effective, because administrators utilise the most fatal and insidious of gendered narcissistic abuse: gaslighting. The current neoliberal climate within academia puts marginalised women faculty at increased risk of genocidal mobbing from those with institutional power and from students with ethnic/racial and/or economic privilege. This article illuminates the union's culpability in the genocidal mobbing of women CLTs disenfranchised by multiple marginalised intersectional identities. Implications for future research and on policy are presented.

show abstract

Heteroprofessionalism in the Academy: The Surveillance and Regulation of Queer Faculty in Higher Education

Cited by 15 publications

References 67 publications

Factors influencing LGBTQ+ disclosure decision-making by Canadian health professionals: A qualitative study

Factors influencing LGBTQ+ disclosure decision-making by Canadian health professionals: A qualitative study

“Ah, it's best not to mention that here:” Experiences of LGBTQ+ health professionals in (heteronormative) workplaces in Canada

A union's and university's responses to violence against a woman professor: Neoliberal restructuring, hypermasculinity, male privilege and hegemonic inequality

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About